Locking mechanism.



. W. K. HOWB.

OGKING MBGHAN Patented Sept-30, 1913.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT operon.

WINTIIROI' K. IIOWR, orf ROCHESTER, NRW Yom; AssIoNoR To GENERAL RAILWAY SIGNAL COMPANY, oF GATES, `New YORK, A CORPORATION or NEW YORK.

the motor (not shown).

LOCKING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Pa-tent.

Patented Sept. 30,1913.

Original application filed May 19, 1909, Serial No. 497,125.V Divided and this application filed May 2S, 1910. `Serial No. 564,017.

To all whom t may concern `Be it known that'fI, WINTHROP K. Howe, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Vin Locking Mechanism, of which the following is a specification. Y

This invention relates to a locking mechanism which is particularly useful in connection with railway signals, but which is adapted for use in various other connections.

The object of the invention is to produce a lock for use in connection with two coaxially rotative shafts, or other elements, this lock operating to retain one of said elements against rotation except when released through rotative'movement of the other element.

To this end the invention consists in lockink mechanism hereinafter described, as it is defined in the succeeding claims;

In the drawings :-Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectio-n through a portion of a semaphore-mechanism in which locking-mecha nism embodying the present invention is employed; Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on the line 2-2in Fig. 1, looking from left to right; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the locking bolt.`

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a semaphore-mechanism, and the parts of the mechanism `illustratedin the drawings comprise a shaft 4, upon which the soma-- phore-casting 5 is mounted, a supportfor said shaft in the form of a sleeve 6 in which the shaft is journaled, a portion of the casing 7 inclosing the motor and gearing by which the semaphore is actuated, and a power-shaft 8 which is journaled in the casing 7 and connected by suitable gearing with The shafts 4 and 8 are journaled in line with each other, or coaxially, as shown in Fig. 1, and at their adjacent ends they are provided with disks 9 and 10, respectively, which constitute members of a coupling by which the ends of the shaft are rotatively connected. These disks are provided with recesses of the form shown in Fig. 2, and the recesses inclose a third member of the coupling which is in the form of a block 11, of the form shown y in Figy This block Causes the two disks Y above referred to.

and the `shafts to rotate together, but, as shown in Fig. 2, it ts the recesses loosely so asto permit a certain amount of lo-st motion, or relative rotation, of the shafts, for a purpose to be presently described. In a semaphore mechanism a coupling of the form described is employed primarily for the purpose of permit-ting the ready removal of the casing 7 and the parts inclosed therein, since the coupling, as will be obvious, permits the disconnection of the shafts by axial movement of the shaft 8 away from the shaft 4.

The semaphore-shaft, when it is not being rotated by the power-shaft, is locked in normal position by means of a bolt 12, which is mounted to slide radially with respect to the coupling, in a recess formed in the semaphore-shaft support 6. This bolthas at its lower end a right-angular locking portion 13, which is adapted to engage a recess of corresponding form in the edge of the disk 9. Beside the portion 13 the bolt has a releasing portion 14, which is beveled, as shown particularly in Figy, and this bev-- eled portion is adapted to engage a correspondingly-beveled recess in the disk 10. The bolt is maintained normally in engagement with the recesses by means of a compression spring 15 surrounding the shank of the bolt. In the normal position of the parts, shown in the drawings, the bolt acts to lock the semaphore-shaft so that it cannot be accidentally or intentionally rotated by the external application of force to the semaphore. Then the semaphore-actuating mechanism is thrown into operation, however, the shaft 8 and the disk 10 rotate in such direction as to Cause the inclined wall ofthe recess in the disk 10 to raise the bolt through engagement with the beveled surface at the part 14, until the lower end of the bolt rides upon the periphery of the disk 10. During this movement of the disk 10 the disk 9 remains locked by the part 13 of the bolt, the relative movement of the disks being permitted by the lost motion As soon, however, as the bolt has been completely raised, so as to disengage it from the disk 9, at which time, or shortly thereafter, in the rotation of the disk 10 the lost motion has been completely taken up, the disk 9 .is free t0 .rotate With the disk 10, and the continued rotation of the latter operates to move the semaphore-shaft and semaphore.

This application is a division of my application which eventuated into Patent #962,960, dated June 28th, 1910.

It will be apparent that the present invention is not limited to use in co-nnection 'with a semaphore, or other railway traiiccontrolling device, and that it is not, in general, limited to the illustrated embodiment thereof, but may be embodied in various forms within the nature of the invention as it is defined in the following claims.

I claim l. Locking mechanism having, in combination, a stationary support, two members coaxially journaled in said support and constituting, respectively, a driving member and a driven member, driving connections between said members having provision for lost motion, and a bolt carried by the support and slidable therein, said bolt having a locking engagement with the driven member and a releasing engagement with the driving member.

2. Locking mechanism having, in combination with two shafts arranged in alinement, a stationary support for the shafts, a coupling for the shafts engageable by relative longitudinal movement of the shafts and comprising two rotative members fixed to the adjacent ends of the shafts and connected with provision for lost motion between them, and a locking device carried by said support and slidable therein, said device having a locking engagement with one coupling-member and having a releasing engagement with the other couplingmember.

3. Locking mechanism having, in combination, a stationary support, two members coaxially journaled in said support and constituting, respectively, a driving member and a driven member, said members having, respectively, bolt-engaging surfaces arranged at an angle to each other, driving connections between said members having provision for lost motion, and a locking bolt movable transversely of the axes of said members and carried by said stationary support and engageable with both of said boltengagingV surfaces, the bolt being constrained by its connection with the stationi ary support to move substantially in the direction of the plane ofthe one of said y surfaces on the driven member, s o asftohave a positive locking engagement therewith stituting, respectively, a' fdr-ivingeshaft and a driven-shaft, a clutch connecting the adjacent ends of said shafts and comprising a. disk on thexend of each shaft, .one of said disks having in 'its periphery a recess with a radial locking surface, and 'the'other disk having in its periphery av -recess with an inclined surface,`a nd a spring-pressedl lockingsbolt slidingly mountedin the fixed support to move transversely of said shafts and having, at one end, a square loc-king projection to engage the first of saidrecesses, and' an inclined releasing-surface ,to Y

engage the inclinedsurfaceV in the other'of said recesses, whereby the bolt locks oneof said disks against rotation until the other disk is turned by the driving-shaft to cause the inclined surfacesto force the bolt out of engagement with tlie-locking-surface.

5. The combination of a rotatably mount-V ed shaft section, a second rotatably mounted shaft section arranged inlongitudinal alinement with the first section, a clutch Vconnection between the two shaft sections, whereby the second one may have aV limited rotary movement independent of the first, opposing disks fixed to the two shaft sections, the disk on the first shaft section having a catch-receiving seat and the Adisk on the second shaft section having a seat formed with an inclined or cam surface and adapted to be brought into register' with. said catch-receiving seat, and a catchadapted to enter said catch-receiving seat and having an inclined portion to enter said seat having the inclined or cam face.

wvV NTHROP K. HOVVE, Titnesses y MARY A. ONEILL, FARNUu F. DoRsEY.

Copies of this patent mayV be obtained for ve cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

